I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand, “Drake. Drake is coming here?” Doug nods his head, “he saw you on the television and marched out of the hotel room growling the whole time. The cleaning lady called me when it happened and I rushed over to tell you.” I nod my head knowing that my father would get a whiff as soon as Drake left his car, maybe even before then. This might end badly, for Drake.

I spy Dang come out from where ever he had been hiding after meeting my father and sit on the railing poofed out a small snarl coming from him. Doug looks at the grizzled cat in shock, “he really doesn’t like Drake does he?” I agree as four vehicles pull into my clearing, all high end SUVs; and from the looks with the ‘extras’ package that costs a great deal of money. Drake steps out of the first with his ‘guards’ flanking him, an angry look on his face. “How dare they attempt to touch my MATE! I have my men looking over the video and they are searching for information on them so we can take care of the problem they present.” Drake stands his hands on either side of his body his fists clenched, I see his mother exit one of the other vehicles.

I stand up straighter and snarl at him, “you will do NOTHING of the kind. All you would do is feed those poor humans who hate us by doing that. Which would cause more problems down the line for all shifters.” He tosses his hand in a flippant gesture, “I don’t care about other shifters. They do not matter to me, I am a wolf. I am one of the most important beings on the planet.” I see Doug get an angry look through my peripheral vision as I see some of his brown and black fur sprout. Unlike wolves, smaller species shifters tend to shift into very large versions of their animals. Size wise Doug could take on Drake in a fair fight. However wolves very rarely have fair fights with other shifters.

Before Doug could fully change I shift forms and snarl at Drake again, “other beings matter wolf your ‘people’ need to learn this. If you attack those misguided humans you would start a government intervention, which would round up every shifter in this state.” He looks up at me again with foolishly no fear on his face, his guards shifting into a defensive pose. “They wouldn’t dare, this is a shifter problem, and it pertains to the wolves.”

“Wrong boy,”growls my father as he strides next to me shifted into his lion shape, which to my surprise was at least a foot taller than me. Drake’s mother and the remaining wolves shift into defensive poses upon seeing my father’s form. Drake again looks up at my father without any fear, that man needs to learn a few things. My father digs his claws into the dirt and I feel his tail swish as he continues, “this is not just a wolf matter. It is also a lion matter, as I am a lion and her father she is guaranteed the rights as any female lion would have. The fact it concerns more than one shifter type means it is a council matter.” Drake looks up at my father a smirk on his face, “the wolves rule the council. As the rest of you pathetic shifters don’t have the backbone to stand up to us.”

My father snarls and the guard on the right jumps to bite my father, and Drake changes and jumps in as well. The wolves attempt to pile on my father, and my father starts tossing wolves. Drake manages to dodge all of my father’s paws, ignoring me; that was his mistake. I reach out and I swat him away batting him towards a tree where he hits with a crack and all of the wolves pause to look shocked.

My father snarls at them, Drake standing shaking himself in disbelief; “specials that are not wolves do not have the wolf mate bond. You were foolish to believe my daughter would not harm you, she will defend her family and friends, that is what a cat shifter does.” I see a ball of black and brown land in front of me and the giant raccoon stands. “As do raccoon shifters, leave now before there is more trouble.” Drake stands up still shocked to discover his ‘Mate’ would attack him, he lowers his head in a threatening pose. “No, we are the top shifters we will have our way.” Then he charges to attack again, I nudge Doug behind me and I hear my father, step back Nancy. My instincts need me to win this fight. I step back keeping Doug behind me watching my father pounce into the pile of wolves charging at us, I note he keeps his claws sheathed as he started swinging at the wolves.

They keep jumping at him trying to bite at his neck to tear it open like a pack after a moose, his legs were bloody from them biting at them attempting to drop him. I could feel Doug behind me attempting to get around me to jump into the fray, I could feel his anger; but I knew his new mate would be upset if he got torn up by wolves before they got to know one another better. My father was starting to tire but most of the wolves were lying on the ground without a mark on them unconscious. Only Drake was still fighting, Drake jumps to try to bite under my father’s mane and my father grabs Drake in his jaws holding him gently but tightly; and I hear more vehicles on the road.

My father just stands still with Drake in his mouth when a group of armored trucks pull in and a tactical group jumps out of them. Simon looking very angry steps out of his car from the back of the line, he walks up to my father and speaks to Drake. “Alpha Drake, you blatantly violated the order to stay away from shifter Nancy. Then you attack shifter Maahes, you child are in a great deal of trouble.” Without looking at my father he says, “Go ahead and drop him Maahes; we will take him into custody. He will be spending a few days in lock up while his Pack’s status will be decided.”

My father spits him out with so much force he hits the same tree with another crack, and my father looks down at Simon. “The boy learned the hard way that Nancy has no wolf mate bond.” Simon smiles and nods to me and gives Doug a look, then turns to Drake who was standing slower than the first time. “Alpha Drake, you are under arrest for violating the protection order and assault of a special, every other wolf here is also under arrest for the same charges.”

Drake snarls at Simon and the tactical unit all point their guns at him, Simon gives the wolf a withering look. “Alpha Drake these are vampire soldiers, they are used to restrain supers who get out of line. They have orders to shoot you first, silver nitrate rounds; I guarantee you they will be excruciatingly painful.” Drake snarls again and three vampires open fire and Drake drops.

Simon then turns back to us, “go ahead and shift back Nancy; and Doug you had better shift back or I’ll hear it from all the females you know.” He turns to my father and speaks over his shoulder, “Dr can you please come here and evaluate his wounds before he shifts please.” The Dr who had been looking over the unconscious wolves straightens up and walks over waving a hand, “please don’t shift yet Nancy. I want to get some measurements for your records please,” I roll my eyes; but stay in my sabertooth form. The Dr starts examining my father’s legs first, “you went easy on those wolves Maahes. The only one who might have a major issue is the foolish Alpha,” my father grunts as the Dr pokes a large bite. The Dr turns his head to a woman standing near a truck that resembled an ambulance, “I’ll need some inject-able antibiotic as well as a suture kit. We will treat in this form as well as suture, when you shift the sutures will tighten; then we will bandage after you shift. I suggest not shifting till after the bleeding stops,” my father nods his head.

While the Dr works on my father the vampires move the wolves onto the trucks, saving Drake for last; they put him in the ambulance and chained him to a gurney. When the Dr finished the suturing my father shifts back and the Dr starts bandaging the wounds, “are the silver chains necessary Simon? I doubt he’ll be getting up for the next hour or so.” The Dr answers instead, “very necessary; I have heard of this fool wolf. While Emerald is a Dragon she is a young one and I am not sure if she could restrain herself if he attacked her.” My father nods, and Simon shakes his head; “I did not expect this from him. I will have someone tracking him next time he is allowed freedom.” I nod my head as the Dr comes over with a tape measure and Emerald holds a tablet to jot the information down. After five minutes of very thorough measurements the Dr looks over the notes Emerald took, “based on the information Simon gave us for Scartooth. You still have more growing to do young lady, it seems like Maahes you grow at a slow rate; every twenty years he gains an inch. We wonder how large any of you can grow to, you met Lobo; He is as big as a giant ground Sloth, non shifter dire wolves never got that large.”

I nod then shift back, “so what is Drake looking at Simon?” I ask the gargoyle when he gets off his radio and waves to the vampires who leave in the trucks, the Dr going as soon as he put his supplies away. “Well once your father presses charges his Pack will be disbanded, the wolves can decide to be lone wolves or join an established pack. The children however will be placed in a council orphanage, so we can determine what parts of their education is lacking. So nothing they had not been warned about,” He gives me a look. “This is appropriate Nancy, do you know how his father died?” I shake my head and he continues, “He was bumped into by another shifter at a mall. Like Drake the father reacted badly and attacked the other shifter, it was a rare basilisk shifter; the only one in existence. The wolf died instantly once the child, yes child; shifted.” I was shocked, Drake’s father attacked a child just because it bumped into him, I could agree he deserved this and the Pack needed disbanding. I did wonder what Drake would pick for himself though.